Episode 231 (Manga)
Synopsis Inside Wyndham castle, Silat and two of his Tapasa kneel before the leader of the Kushan, who sits on a throne built into the lap of a statue of a woman with many arms. The man on the throne, Emperor Ganishka, chastises Silat for not having been able to carry out his mission of apprehending Griffith. Ganishka orders the shamed Silat to follow Griffith and report his location, but to leave Griffith's apprehension to Ganishka's forces. Silat and the Tapasa are dismissed. Silat leaves the throne room with his guards, who are worried that the Kushan army will overshadow them in usefulness. Silat isn't worried, knowing that as long as he stays one step ahead of them, he will be able to catch Griffith and restore honor to his clan, the Bakiraka. The Tapasa then make their thoughts on Wyndham's situation clear: they, also, are not aware of the origin of the ominous fog, nor are they sure that claims of monsters prowling the streets are simply rumors. Silat and the Tapasa's conversation ends with them all agreeing that Ganishka is a "dread emperor", an unforgiving tyrant. Later, Ganishka sits in an elephant-mounted litter, being brought to the Tower of Rebirth in the presence of his many guards. He makes his way to the top of the Tower and finally into Charlotte's room, where the princess is practicing her embroidery in the presence of her handmaiden, Anna. Ganishka orders Anna removed from the room so that he may speak privately with Charlotte. Ganishka expresses his disapproval of Charlotte making so many embroideries, which now lay strewn across the room's entire floor and have begun to form high piles. He then moves the conversation to more important matters, outright telling Charlotte that he has come to visit her for the sole purpose of conceiving a child. Charlotte becomes uncomfortable with the prospect of doing so, and won't relent even when Ganishka says that by their having a child together will end the violence between the Kushan Empire and Midland. As such, Ganishka decides to force matters, grabbing Charlotte and throwing her on her bed. As Ganishka pulls the curtains of the bed back, Charlotte has a horrifying flashback of her attempted rape at her father's hands. She cowers and struggles as Ganishka holds her down and attempts to remove her gown, but he stops when she calls out for Griffith. It is only at this moment that Ganishka notices that Charlotte's most recent embroidery project is a depiction of Griffith. He glances around the room, only to see that all of her embroideries depict Griffith. He immediately makes the connection that Charlotte and Griffith are lovers and leaves the room, displaying a great interest in the lovers' relationship. As Ganishka is escorted back to Wyndham castle's throne room, he reflects on the relationship between Apostles and the Falcon of Light; it is akin to the relationship between the religious and God. However, Ganishka, as the emperor of the vast and enormously powerful Kushan Empire, thinks himself the rightful heir of the world itself, and he will oppose God personally to have it. Characters in Order of Appearance